Vehicle seats are generally mounted in a vehicle on a seat rail pair consisting of an upper seat rail and a lower seat rail, wherein the upper seat rail which bears the vehicle seat may be displaced relative to the lower seat rail which is fixedly attached to the vehicle, in order to adjust the position of the vehicle seat in the vehicle.
In order to fix the vehicle seat in a position set by a user, a locking device is required as part of a device for the adjustment. In this case, said locking device has to be configured in order to be able to be released automatically or manually, so as to permit the adjustability of the vehicle seat along the seat rail pair, if required, and to be able to ensure a secure retention of the vehicle seat on the vehicle structure during operation.
Actuating units for a vehicle seat which are used to this end and which, in particular, are used on a seat rail pair of a motor vehicle seat are known in many different embodiments from the prior art. In such a mechanism, typically a rigid actuating element is pushed through an opening in the seat rail bearing the vehicle seat and pivotably articulated on the seat rail via an axle, wherein one end of the actuating element actuates a locking device, whilst the other end of the actuating element is actuated manually by the user or automatically controlled. In particular, in this case actuating elements to be actuated manually are frequently retained by a spring element in a predetermined pivoted position.
In this case, the actuating element is secured on the axle or shaft bearing the seat rail against axially slipping out, for example by means of a suitable fastening means, namely a nut or a cotter pin, which however requires a complicated, time-consuming and thus cost-intensive assembly.
Alternatively, for securing the position of the axle or shaft, the ends thereof may be reshaped, for example compressed, which not only results in a complicated assembly process but also leads to damage to the axle or at least damage to a coating of paint or a protective coating applied thereto, whereby the functionality and service life of the actuating unit is restricted.
Moreover, devices of the prior art are also known in which the actuating element is not retained by an axle but by a leg spring of complex shape, frequently in combination with a further multipart mechanism, whereby the installation of the device is particularly complicated and cost-intensive and therefore may only be carried out manually by an operator.